


Freedom

by Lostkid



Series: Crystal Grumps [2]
Category: Steven Universe - Fandom, Video Blogging RPF, crystal grumps - Fandom
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Mind Control, i didn't write it as natepat but you can interpret it however you want - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-22
Updated: 2016-11-22
Packaged: 2018-09-01 13:27:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8626231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lostkid/pseuds/Lostkid
Summary: Nate discovers that free will is a rarity in era-2 gems.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is a reupload of a chapter from my old "Crystal Youtubers" fic. For some reason it wouldn't let me post additional chapters, so I just decided to post them as individual fics and group them as a series so it would be easier.

The war was a terrible time for every gem on Homeworld. Even Pearls and Ambers were forced to fight; to wield any weapon available and to shatter every rebel possible. The Diamonds were desperate.

Desperate because they knew they couldn’t control every gem. There was no telling who would betray them next, who was a spy on the inside, who could be trusted.

It was Yellow Diamond’s idea.

“We _have_ to cease betrayals. Our gems are _weak-willed_ ; easily swayed by the _traitors!”_ He’d hissed, crushing a Zircon in his hands.

Green Diamond stared at the gem shards falling to the ground, “Was that…uh, I mean, so what do we do?”

“We make them _stay_ ,” The taller gem scowled.

“But they’ll still want to-” Blue Diamond tried to speak but was interrupted.

“When we create new gems, _we_ _make them stay_.”

Green Diamond’s eyes widened, and he stepped forwards, “ _Wait_ , you don’t mean-”

“Yes.”

After grinding the shards into the floor with his shoe, he left the room, leaving an indifferent Blue Diamond and stunned Green Diamond in his wake.

——————–

“Matt, the episode’s on in like five minutes, hurry up!” Nate yelled, spilling about half of his popcorn on the floor, “No, no,  _no_ -! Shit.”

After kicking all the tragically fallen snacks off the wooden balcony, Nate returned to the couch, putting his feet up on the cushions and placing the bowl on his lap.

“…Whatever, more for me.”

Ten minutes into the episode, Nate began to feel slightly worried. Matt was usually never late, and when he was, he always, _always_ let Nate know beforehand. He checked the skewed clock on the wall; it read 11:10 PM. The peridot also never went out when it was dark, not if he could help it.

But even when he had to, Nate always knew, why didn’t he know _now_?

“Matt?” The barn was utterly empty. No laughing, no curses being thrown at experiments gone wrong, no yelled theories echoing around every half an hour. He checked everywhere, even the attic, but no, Matt’s belongings were alone, covered in dust as usual. He silently noted the fingerprints on a small, black box in the corner.

The popcorn had lost its taste. The TV’s sound was nothing but a buzz. Nate hadn’t felt anxiety like this since being fused with Mark, and shivered thinking about it. _No_ , he didn’t need to think about that now, or ever. He was safe.

But he didn’t know if Matt was.

“Matt, seriously, this isn’t funny anymore!” He yelled, stomach flipping, “If I upset you I’m sorry; we can talk about it! I’ll sing, o-or we can fuse!”

A sound came from the cliff side, a cry? A laugh? Was that Matt?

Nate dropped everything and ran.

As he raced towards the source of the noise, he noticed equipment; machines; tools lying across the grass, some even embedded in the soil, going down who knows how deep. More and more came into view as he neared the cliff. Unsure what any of it implied or even _was_ , Nate’s pace slowed, footsteps shortening until he was practically just inching forwards. He made sure to keep his distance from every piece of equipment, unsure if it was Earth or Homeworld technology, and not prepared to find out its use.

As he walked closer to the edge of the cliff, it became harder and harder to avoid all the metal. Curved and warped iron walls reached out of the soil like claws, spikes aimed in all directions. He instinctively covered the Enastite on his neck with his hand, it quivering as he swallowed.

“Haha…this is fucked up, what the fu- _ow!”_ He nervously laughed, sidling between the spikes before quickly pulling his hand back from the spike suddenly pierced through it, “Okay, fucking rude…” He rubbed his palm, more annoyed than hurt. He was more than willing to turn around at that point, to assume that Matt was with the Grumps, or in the Kindergarten or something, but then…

“Peridot 13-1-20, reporting for Yellow Diamond.” Nate’s horrified eyes widened as he forced himself through a narrow gap between the metal and stared at Matt; standing next to half a ship, “I have been stranded on Earth for four hundred and seventy four rotations, imprisoned by the rebel gems. I am currently crafting a new pod for myself to return back to Homeworld. Project Prophecy is advancing, and will most likely be fully ready in approximately one hundred and eighty-”

Nate couldn’t take anymore of this.

“You’re a piece of shit, Matt!” He shoved the peridot to the ground, kicking the Diamond Receiver off the cliff, “You’re a fucking _traitor!_ I knew we shouldn’t have trusted you!”

Matt stared at him with confused, empty eyes, glancing down at the gem on the other’s neck, “Enastite gem… You aren’t part of my mission.”

“Matt, I swear to…”

“My designation is Peridot 13-1-20.”

Nate stared at him. This wasn’t Matt. Sure, it looked like him, but he just sounded so… _dead_ , like a robot or something. Something was wrong.

“You shouldn’t be here. You’re compromising my mission.”

“What mission? To go back to _hell?_ ”

Matt’s brows furrowed, obviously not understanding the word, “To return to Homeworld, to Yellow Diamond.”

“But…but…you don’t belong there! You belong _here_ , you love it here!”

“You are compromising my mission.” Matt said, his voice sounding monotonous and bored.

“Matt, please, what is this-”

_“You are compromising my mission!”_

Nate froze, images of Matt in his limb enhancers, towering over him and screaming at him flashing before his eyes. Cold, almost robotic; this was the peridot who kept him captive; obsessed with following orders, with following the Diamonds. On the ship, he’d almost been scarier than Mark. _Almost_. It hurt him to even compare the two but it was true. He…he needed to get their Matt back.

He took a deep breath, remembering their favourite tune.

_“If I could begin to be…”_

The peridot ignored him, turning around and walking back towards the damaged ship. He seemed to be focused on some sort of circuit board he's pulled from it.

_“Half of what you think of me…”_

A small reaction. The peridot looked at him in irritation before turning back to his work.

_“I could do about anything, I could even learn how to love…”_

“Stop it.”

_“When I see the way you act…”_

“Stop singing!” He ordered, annoyance clear in his expression. Nate tried to ignore the memories of being a prisoner on the green gem's ship.

_“Wondering when I’m coming back…”_

Nate could see the metal behind him beginning to bend. He wondered if this peridot even knew he had fferokinesis.

_“I could do about anything…”_

“N-Nate, stop…”

He ran over and grabbed the peridot by the shoulders, forcing him to look at him.

_“I could even learn how to love…”_

“Nate, stop it, I have to…I have to do this… _please_ …” Matt appeared to be shaking, clutching the circuit board in one hand and Nate’s sleeve in the other, “This…this is my _mission_ , I _have_ to…”

_“Like you…”_

Nate could tell that the peridot was close to collapsing, and lowered slowly to his knees, bringing Matt with him. Matt stared at him, and for a second, Nate was afraid that he’d return to acting like a robot, but then a few tears slipped from his eyes, and he buried his head in Nate’s shoulder, quietly sobbing.

_“Love like you…”_

After a few minutes, when Nate was sure he’d fallen asleep, Matt began to shakily sing.

 _“I a-always thought I might be bad,_  
_N-now I’m sure that it’s t-true,_  
_‘Cause I think you’re so g-good,_  
_And I-I’m nothing like you…”_

The end was nothing more than a whisper, so quiet that Nate almost couldn’t hear it. Frowning, he shook his head and continued the song.

 _“Look at you go, I just adore you,_  
_I wish that I knew…_  
_What makes you think_ I’m _so special…”_

They sat in silence for a few more minutes, the only interruptions being Matt’s occasional hiccuping sobs.

“What did I do?” He meekly asked after a while, his voice muffled.

“ _You_ didn’t do anything,” Nate promised, “that wasn’t you. I don’t know what it _was_ , but-”

“I…It...” Matt hiccuped a sob, “It’s s-similar t-t o what humans call m-mind control. It was c-conditioned into gems made d-during and after the war. S-so we won’t rebel like the _others_ d-did. I....I forgot a-about it...”

Nate grimaced, his grip on Matt's arm tightening.

“It’s a-activated every time we make mistakes, o-or disobey orders, or aren’t kept track of. They h-haven't been able to a-afford shattering us -m-most of us- since the w-war.” He chuckled humourlessly, “M-maybe it would've been better if-”

“No.” Nate said firmly, “Don’t you dare say that.”

“A-and what happens if they…if they do it again, and m-make me hurt one of you?” He sounded angry, but Nate knew not to be afraid. This peridot wasn’t dangerous, just scared. “They…they made me…with Stephanie’s gem, they m-made _me_ …" He shook his head, eyes still squeezed shut, "W-what if I hurt K-Kevin…or _you_ -”

“Then I’ll _sing_.” Nate promised. “I’ll get you back to normal, I promise.”

He sounded so determined that Matt almost believed the Enastite. He wanted to. Matt nodded slightly, but refused to look at Nate, thoughts drawn to the little black box in the attic.

“You can’t keep that promise,” he thought, gazing over Nate’s shoulder.

 

_“She couldn’t.”_


End file.
